Photo site Flickr takes shot at videos

Yahoo Inc. will begin showing homemade videos on its online photo-sharing site, Flickr, in a long-anticipated move that might be too late to lure most people away from the Internet’s dominant video channel, Google Inc.’s YouTube.

Flickr’s video technology, which debuted late Tuesday, represents the latest example of Yahoo trying to catch up to Google in a crucial battleground.

Yahoo’s inability to keep pace with Google in the lucrative online search market caused its profit and stock price to sag during the last two years, which in turn triggered an unsolicited takeover attempt by Microsoft Corp. for more than $40 billion.

While trying to fend off Microsoft, Yahoo has continued to develop and introduce services that the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company hopes will help revive its earnings growth.

Unlike Internet search, online video hasn’t blossomed into a big moneymaker yet. But it’s expected to turn into a marketing magnet as advertisers shift more of their spending from television in pursuit of consumers who are watching more entertainment and news online.

Yahoo already operates one of the Web’s largest video platforms, but most of its content is provided by media outlets and other outside professionals.

Flickr’s new technology is aimed at amateurs and hobbyists looking for a better way to share short video clips with family and friends.

Only Flickr’s “pro” members -- those who pay for a $24.95 annual subscription -- will be allowed to transfer video clips of up to 90 seconds to the site, but anyone will be able to watch them. A privacy setting will allow videographers to limit access to the clips on Flickr if they choose.